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College students are geared up for the fall semester, and
entrepreneurs everywhere are trying to grab their fleeting
attention. They're part of that coveted 18- to 30-year-old
demographic. If your product has a shelf life after college,
you're in luck--you're catching them in their purchasing power
formative years. But to use an appropriate analogy, selling to
college students is no easy A.

That's because marketing to college students poses a special set
of challenges. They're often transient, skeptical and
cash-strapped, making for a difficult market to penetrate.

So, how do you market to the college crowd? Here are some tips.

1. Consider mobile marketing.
Most college students have yet to settle down. Alan Martin, 31,
CEO of CampusBookRentals.com, knows the issues
well. His Ogden, Utah company rents textbooks to students.
"They are, by nature, a churning customer," he says. "You can
win them over with great prices and unbeatable service--but
eventually, they graduate."

According to the National Retail Federation, many colleges
are becoming "commuter campuses." More than 58 percent of
students are living at home this year, up from 47 percent in
2007. That means you can't reach the student as easily on
campus.

Many customers of Atlanta, Ga.-based SimpleLeap Software, are mobile.
SimpleLeap sells Cram, an app that helps students prepare for
tests. "You have to offer access to your product or website
via cell phones," says Ashli Norton, SimpleLeap's co-founder.
"In our experience, SMS text and cell phone browser access are
the surest ways to make your company reachable to college
students."

2. Get to the point, fast.
This is a time of upheaval for young adults, especially incoming
freshmen.

"They've got complicated classes, complicated schedules and
complicated lives," says Harry Schiff, president of Agent Anything Inc., a personal service
company launched in New York City that depends on college
students. Because of all the complications in students' lives,
Schiff has found that simple copy works best. "That doesn't
mean there isn't room for creativity. Witty works, sarcastic
works, funny works." What doesn't work, says Schiff, is a
campaign that doesn't get to the point.

3. Don't try to be cool if you're not.
College students are often critical thinkers and wary about
advertising. Boris Revsin, CEO of Boston-based CampusLIVE.com, an online portal for
college students' academic and social interests (designed to
complement Facebook), is acutely aware of this cynicism.
"They've seen [social networking] sites come and go and don't
have the mindshare to be on a hundred different sites," he
says.

"College students are very quick about sniffing out a phony,"
says Jeff Gawronski, 31, president of Dorm Co, an online retail site that sells
everything and anything that might be considered essential to
furnishing a dorm room. "I've seen business owners try to act
cool, and it [costs them] their credibility. It's best to [be
yourself] rather than try to send the message, 'Hey, I'm cool,
I'm hip.' Because, like it or not, they'll decide what's hip."

4. Get your product right before bragging about
it.
College students can be a marketer's dream--or nightmare. "It's a
great word-of-mouth community," Schiff says. "Since they see each
other often, they always need new topics of conversation."

The good news is that if they like your product or service,
they'll talk about it. And the bad news is that if they hate it,
they'll talk about that, too.

For this reason, CampusLIVE's Revsin stresses that the best thing
an entrepreneur can do is focus on product development long
before the marketing. "We want people to be so wowed by the
product that they spread the word themselves, and that's the only
way to be mainstream on a college campus. They have to tell their
whole floor about it."

5. Win over mom and dad.
Selling to college students as a group may result in big bucks,
but individually, they don't have much disposable cash. Even if
they aren't tapped out from tuition, many students are on a
limited budget. Pricing strategy is paramount: too expensive and
your customers might not be able to afford you. Too cheap and you
won't clear overhead. "They're incredibly price sensitive,"
Martin says. "You need to offer a great product at a price that
doesn't cut into the Mountain Dew fund."

Adding to the difficulty, SimpleLeap's Norton notes that "college
students know how to solve problems--they'll try to find a
solution [before] purchasing your product."

That's why Don Osborne, 52, targets parents. Based out of
Huntington Beach, Calif., he's CEO of Inquarta, which provides admissions advice
for graduate schools. In fact, one could argue that in selling
to the college crowd, you're tag-team marketing, chasing the
student as well as the parent, who has the purchasing power.

Despite all the pitfalls and obstacles of selling to college
students, the benefits can be substantial. Many business owners
in the niche find it a fun market. "It keeps you young," Dorm
Co's Gawronski says. "The majority of people think of college as
the best years of their lives. When you meet the parents, they're
excited about getting their room ready, and the students are
excited about going to college. I mean, they're actually excited
to shop with you."